carnivore

Yesterday we went to a local movie theater and saw. live the matinee performance from the Metropolitan Opera of 'Das Rheingold' in HD on a very large cinema screen. Great experience marred slightly by the inadequacy (for music) of the theater's speakers. Visually terrific and some very fine singing particularly from Bryn Terfel as Wotan.

Milo O'Shea Harry Horlick The Ovaltinies

Mickey Rat Mickey Rourke Minnie Minoso Minnehaha The Laughing Policeman Jolly Jack Tar

I was producing albums back in the 80s and it was a great relief when CDs arrived, from a content point of view. If the music on your tapes was reasonably dynamic and you wanted to avoid distortion and possible needle skips you were nuts if you took anything to the disc cutting suite that contained more than 28 minutes, and about 25 would give you a better result and eight 3 minute tracks per side. Sibilance and its attendant distortion, especially on average quality stereos was another cutting problem that the digital medium solved. The American pressed LP versions of Art Pepper's 'Winter Moon' and an album on which Zoot plays 'Never Let Me Go' were almost unlistenable due to instances of high frequency peak distortion that should have been caught in the processing. The CDs are fine.

Yes, annoying. Any worse than Symphony Sid or Pee Wee Marquette? This sort of hyperbolic presentation of 'stars' seemed to be pretty standard then; I'm not sure much has changed now in the celebrity world. In a perverse way I've always rather liked Irving's shout 'Take it away, Dukie' - a refreshing antidote to the almost religious reverence that has been coming from some quarters over the past decade.

Before I'd ever heard any of the Ellington recordings I was enthralled by the 1947 New York Town Hall performance by the Charlie Barnet band. Solos by Claude Williamson, Jimmy Nottingham and the leader, and a very effective Billy May arrangement. Most of the early Duke recordings afford us an opportunity to hear Harry Carney soloing on clarinet.

I had to stop listening after a couple of minutes. Tragic deterioration.

Thanta Clawth Thnow White Mickey Mouth

Kim Jong Eun L'il Kim Tiny Mott

Sy Oliver Cy Laurie Van Morrison

Clint Eastwood Vivienne Westwood (The) Westward Ho

Pierrot Lunaire Glenn Beck Josef Goebbels

Arrrggghhh Jim Lad Lad Busby Helmut Newton

Sioux City Sue Kansas City Kitty Birmingham Bertha

Richard Branston Max Wall MacFishery

Max Miller 'The Cheeky Chappie' Chappie Willett Chappie D'Amato

I've played fairly accurate transcriptions of it in the sax section of several different bands over the years and it's always enjoyable, whether on alto or tenor. o#One always felt a kind of euphoria when playing the 'Sister Kate' section after the clarinet solo.

The Old Master Painter of the Faraway Hills Rudy Vallee Ruud Lubbers

Chu Chuck Redberry (Korean pronunciation)

Vittorio Gassman Le Pétomane Petula Clark

Poppy Egmont Eustace McGargle

The Six Fat Dutchmen Roly Poly Polycrates of Samos

Garvin Bushell Gram Parsons Two Ton Tessie O'Shea

Turnbull and Asser Dagwood Bumstead Eric Buttock

Balls Brothers Knacker of the Yard Carlos Osvaldo Jones